A Different Hope
by All Your Regrets
Summary: Bail Organa is dead. Leia is alone, at least until he came for her. Raised as a Sith she becomes one of the most deadly people in the galaxy, and her only goal is to destroy the rebellion. Luke Skywalker is the dire opposite and he may just be the only one to be able to end the onslaught. AU
1. Prologue

Prologue

It was raining on Coruscant. The thick drops splattered against the windows of the former Jedi temple. Outside of the grand entrance, numerous imperial security teams waited so they could allow any additional access for military personnel that was needed. Three miles away an imperial shuttle was en route to the temple, carrying one of the most important men in the galaxy. This shuttle was followed by an escort of four TIE fighters, two in the front and rear. On the shuttles landing platform there were two rows of stormtroopers with their guns raised, forming a tunnel for their leader.

Today was a big day and the Empire risked nothing.

The shuttle descended onto the landing platform as the four TIEs arced off. The scent of fear was thick in the air as all the stormtroopers straightened up, not wanting to disappoint their lord. The ramp of the shuttle opened with a loud hiss and steam billowed from the entrance and the black clad figure stepped out. Accompanied by two royal guards, the man slowly made his way down the aisle. His jet black cape fluttered in the wind behind him and you could hear his steady breathing over the sound of the rain, which just added to his intimidating aura.

This man's name was Anakin Skywalker, but that wasn't the name he went by anymore.

Anakin stopped at the doorway and a small man stepped out of it.

"Lord Vader, it is an honor sir," the man spoke in a heavy accent. "Please allow me to escort you to the Emperor. "

"Of course Major Sola. Is he ready to see me?"

"Yes sir," the man, Sola, replied.

The two men strode into the temple in silence. As Anakin looked around he noticed that things must have changed dramatically since he had last been there. The large ornate windows were as beautiful as ever, and the cityscape it revealed looked the same, but there was a different feel to the whole atmosphere as the temple was now shrouded in evil.

Anakin had once been a great Jedi, a champion of the Republic, the chosen one and had been destined to destroy the Sith. All of that was believed until he became a pawn of Chancellor Palpatine who turned Anakin into a Sith and renamed him Darth Vader. Palpatine then showed his true colors, turning into Darth Sidious and destroying the Jedi with the help of Darth Vader.

Now everyone called Anakin Darth Vader, even Anakin himself, yet deep inside Anakin knew that it was the name of the machine, not the man inside it.

Sola stopped outside of a large doorway that was being guarded by two royal guards.

"Good luck my lord," Sola said suppressing a grin.

Vader, who did not find it so amusing, turned and walked into the room.

It was the old Jedi council chamber and it still contained all of the chairs of the dead masters to which they belonged to. Palpatine sat in one of the council chairs with his hood up so you couldn't see his face. Vader kneeled down.

"It is an honor my master," mumbled Vader. Palpatine did not look pleased.

"I wish I could say the same," he spat.

"What do you mean my lord?" There was a pause.

"You have failed me lord Vader." There was another pause. "Was the purpose of your mission not clear?"

"With all due respect, I killed many Jedi while on my mission. How those two keep evading me remains a mystery to me. My lord I assure you it was not my fault."

A pang of anger that wasn't his own surged through Vader. Sometimes he wished he didn't have force senses.

"If it is not your fault lord Vader, then it seems funny that the two Jedi that have not been confirmed dead seem to be two of the Jedi you were closest to," finished Palpatine in a tone that warned Vader that there would be punishment if he said another word. "You will finish the Jedi."

"Yes my lord."

Vader bowed his head and exited the room. A stormtrooper squad was waiting for him outside the door, ready to escort him back to the shuttle.

Kriff, thought Vader. Another Jedi-hunt. That was what he had been dreading would happen because lately Vader had had something else on his mind. Lately he had been feeling something odd in the force. He kept having visions of two children, a boy and a girl, who looked familiar, and he had come up with a ridiculous theory. What if the two children were his son and daughter? Padme was dead and she only was pregnant with one kid who would have died with her, but the curiosity was too much.

Vader boarded the shuttle that took off and started a course to the _Death Star_.

The galaxy was about to change forever…


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

_Tatooine_

Obi Wan Kenobi set down his cup and got up from his seat in the Mos Eisley Cantina. It had been almost sixteen years since the rise of the Empire and the destruction of his people. For Obi Wan that had meant, almost sixteen long years of watching over the final hope for the Jedi.

Not that he took care of Luke Skywalker but the Lar's didn't have the skills to defend Luke from the Empire in an emergency, and the Tatooine desert was the perfect place for a Jedi in exile. It had been fifteen long years of waiting for Luke to reach the age when he would be mature enough to handle the truth about his family tree. Though Obi Wan didn't know when that day would come, he was hopeful that it would be soon. Right now however, Kenobi's only true goal was to blend in and keep Luke out of too much trouble.

As Obi Wan walked up to the bar to order another drink, a pack of stormtroopers who were walking into the cantina caught his eye. As he was never confirmed dead in Order 66, Kenobi was wanted everywhere in the galaxy by imperial authorities, and though his face had aged tremendously he was still recognizable. So when he was in public he remained in the shadows never showing his face.

Kenobi turned around and putting up his hood, he strolled inconspicuously up to a poster on the wall advertising the Max Rebo concert that would be happening in Mos Eisley the next week. Time flew by for Obi Wan and it disappointed him. He remembered the time he had a purpose in life, travelling through the galaxy and completing missions for the Jedi. Though he knew he was assigned one of the most important missions in the galaxy, Kenobi still thought that he should be out trying to stop the Empire from enslaving the whole population. These thoughts came to him often but he tried to keep them assigned has his inner patience told him that Luke was almost ready.

_They have to be gone now, _thought Obi Wan as he looked around hoping the stormtroopers had left. No, instead they were chatting with a group of Weequays about the podrace that was on the flickering holonet screen in the corner.

He couldn't wait around all day, he decided as he slipped out the back entrance of the bar. All the music was getting to his head anyway. He climbed onto his speeder and started back to his hut.

It was dusk and the streets of the town were crowded with races of all kinds making it near impossible to maneuver through them, and by the time Kenobi did manage to clear a passage, night had fallen upon the desert sands. The people of Mos Eisley know that when night begins, the parties start, and Obi Wan was no different. He knew Luke was sure to be attending one of the parties at his age; therefore he decided it was probably best to check on the boy beforehand.

It took a short time for Kenobi to reach the Lars' moisture farm and outside of it there was a large sandcrawler outside of it with Luke and his uncle Owen purchasing new droids. As soon as Luke saw Kenobi, he ran up to him with an excited face.

"Ben, Ben!" he shouted using the name that most people called him by. "Look at these new droids we just got. They're going to be quite useful around here, especially for my T-16." The T-16 was a racing speeder type aircraft that stupid teenage daredevils enjoyed racing through the desert ravines.

"Oh, how are you Ben we didn't know where you had gone off to! We haven't seen you in awhile. Care to join us for dinner?" asked Owen Lars as he suddenly strode up behind his adopted son.

Kenobi knew it would be rude to refuse so he accepted and walked in the house. The smell of noodles was thick in the air. "How have you been Luke?" he asked while sitting down.

"I've been practicing with the T-16 a lot to try and improve my skills. Sometimes there is someone out in the canyons with me and I can race them. When that happens, I win."

Obi Wan's hope fell. He had been hoping the boy was slowing his obsession with piloting but to no prevail. All Luke really wanted to be when he grew up was an X-wing pilot in the Rebel Alliance but Kenobi wished he was more interested in the Jedi teachings. Though he had been telling Luke stories about the Jedi for years, Luke had never seemed that interested about them, though he liked listening to them all the same.

"Your birthday is approaching Luke, you must be getting excited about that," said Obi Wan hoping to spark a conversation. "Sixteen is the age when you are able to get your pilots license."

To Obi Wan's astonishment, Luke's grin faded. "Uncle Owen will prohibit me from leaving this barren rock until after the harvest, even though I would be leaving for a good cause."

"Luke, you are still quite young, your Uncle just wants to protect you."

"I am a good pilot, I can handle myself," retorted Luke.

Luckily Owen and Beru came in at that very moment and saved Obi Wan from more of Luke's foolish reasoning. "Still on about becoming a rebel fighter pilot is he?" asked Owen. "You don't know what's good for you boy, I think you would hate the soldier's lifestyle if you tried to live it."

Obi Wan didn't want to make Luke angry, so he awkwardly started a different conversation. "About your birthday, I have a gift that you might enjoy," he said referring to the lightsaber that Obi Wan would bestow upon Luke. Luke however, was still mad and didn't take much notice to Obi Wan's words as he stared at his noodles. Obi Wan decided to that this was a good time to leave and he pushed his bowl to the center of the table. "Thanks for having me," he said politely. "I'm glad to see you are all okay." And with that, he was off. He strode out the door, put up the hood of his cloak, climbed on to his speeder and sped away across the desert sands...

_Mos Eisley, One hour later_

Sometimes Ben really got on his nerves. Luke respected the wise old hermit but it wasn't as if he had done anything spectacular in his life, other than getting Luke out of trouble a few times with Owen. So why didn't he support Luke's sense of adventure? Was he jealous that he was never able to achieve great feats, so he wanted to condemn Luke to the same fate? It was so confusing yet so intriguing what the old man wanted of him.

"Luke, snap out of it!"whispered Luke's friend Radian Chase. Luke snapped back into reality. He was sitting around a crowded table in a damp, musty room that was filled with the scent of mold, also known as the back room of the "_Crusty Bantha"_ nightclub. He was with a group of kids who also wanted to join the rebels but couldn't under their current circumstances, because they were either too poor to get off planet or too young. The manager of the nightclub could be persuaded to forget about them if he received enough credits, so the young rebels paid up in order to have a meeting place, even if it wasn't completely ideal. There was a holo-map in the middle of the table showing a small Imperial outpost that they were going to try to raid. A human girl, in her teens was talking about the plan of attack.

"Since we have a couple 'a grenades we could try to lob'em into the guard tower on this side and enter here." She pointed to a stubby guard post in the corner of the hologram. "I can take one of you fat lards around the flank here and-." Her words were stopped short by a loud scream from outside, followed by a loud explosion. Smoke floated through the vent and the kids looked at each other anxiously. There were more screams and you could hear gunshots. The girl's eyes widened. "Quick, hide!"

Suddenly the door blasted open and a special operations stormtrooper marched into the room. He stopped for half a second and chuckled. Then he opened fire. Luke flung himself behind the table as he watched his friends get massacred. _How did they find out?_ he thought. He didn't get time for an answer as the lead girl, who had miraculously survived the initial chaos, dove down and landed next to Luke. She pulled a cheap lightweight pistol from her belt and turned to Luke. "See you on the other side Skywalker," she whispered and she leapt away.

Luke poked his head out over the table and watched the rest of the scene unfold. The girl emptied her magazine in less than a second but it didn't affect the stormtrooper as his special operations armor was heavily plated. There was an awkward pause as time seemed to slow down, then Luke watched in horror as she dropped the gun and tried to tackle the trooper. She hit him with enough force that they both tumbled to the floor; however they landed outside the room where there were many more stormtroopers. Their slow reaction time gave the young rebel a chance, but the main trooper unsheathed a knife and impaled her in the chest. She fell to the floor dead.

Now Luke was the only one left. Then suddenly he heard a voice that gave him hope. "Was that the last one?"

Another man responded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure. We have the owner too."

"Good where is he?"

"Right here!" growled the gruff voice of a different man.

Luke heard a loud thump and a wheeze. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but, but I, I'm out of trouble now, right?" squeaked the owner of the club. _That filthy traitor!_ thought Luke. He dared to peek back over his cover to look into the eyes of the man who had betrayed him and his friends. He was on the ground with torn clothes and bruises all over him, including one that covered his eye. Then, surprisingly the special operative lent the man a hand.

As the feeble owner pathetically accepted, the trooper asked the man in a soothing voice, "You are a good man, and those men were filth. So why did you allow them to pollute our society for so long? If you would have reported them right away, you would be free from trouble. Even if you had reported them early I could have made an exception, however you didn't. I truly hope you don't honestly think you can go unpunished." The trooper slowly strode over to the dead girl and retrieved his knife.

But Luke suddenly realized this was his chance. The leader's back was turned and the eyes were on him. If Luke had any hope of escape, this was it. He leapt out of cover and all out sprinted towards the empty street. The stormtroopers raised their weapons and unloaded at him but nothing could land a hit. He climbed on a speeder and raced towards his home.

The Imperials didn't know what to do. As they stared dumbly at one another the lead man screamed out his orders. "Follow him you fools!" Instantly, half the men climbed on whatever they could find, and shot away in pursuit.

Luke looked behind him and saw the white clad warriors chasing after him. It didn't occur to him that leading them towards his house could be extremely dangerous for him and his family until it was too late. He saw his house appear in the distance and tried to think of what he could do.

Suddenly, bolts of red streaked past and one caught the rear end of his bike, which then started smoking. The house was rapidly approaching and his bike was beginning to flame up. Luke did the only thing he could think of and pushed the bike into a sharp turn causing it to flip over. In midair he pushed off of the speeder and hit the sand face-first with a loud crack from his right arm, which he had stuck out to try and break his fall. He heard the bike explode somewhere behind him.

Then there were voices. "Is he dead?"

"Charcoal. What else could he be?"

"I don't wanna go scrape his carcass off the sand, that's disgusting. Anyway, is this his place?"

"It looks like it. We should probably torch the place, Sako would probably like that. It gives the people a symbol of what happens when you don't obey order."

"Fair enough."

Luke could make out a figure coming out of the house. _No, no. Don't come out. They'll kill you too._

Everything went black.


End file.
